Datalink contacts not appearing

[mattag08]

Perhaps something changed I'm not aware of, if so please advise.

 

I have been flying the F-14 since launch and playing with it on multiplayer PvE and PvP servers. Yesterday I encountered something I have not seen to date, a complete lack of datalink contacts on the TID. I believe only approximately 8 were shown. Up until the last few weeks I'm sure that I've seen dozens of datalink contacts on the TID. I know there was a recent update to some of the TID functionality, so did the number of allowed datalink contacts change or is this a bug? Is there a realistic limit? If so, does it preference the closest contacts? Does it preference enemies over friendlies?

 

My issue was that after taking off, every datalink contact around me was friendly (about 8 total) as I got close to where the actual air battles were taking place enemies started to appear as they got close and the friendlies disappeared if they were further away. All the friendlies, enemies, and myself were in LOS and range (<100 NM) to the AWACS (an E3). It seemed that the enemies only appeared because there were less than 8 friendlies around me. This seems very counter-intuitive as you would want the D/L to preference enemies over friendlies generally.

 

The server I was on was heavily populated (60+ people), so I don't know if that played a factor. Unfortunately this has made the datalink quite unusable and stripped the tomcat of one of its main advantages over older and less well equipped aircraft.

[IronMike]

I think your memory might play a trick here on you. The AWG9 is not capable of displaying more than 8 targets at any given moment, and that was like that since we implemented it before release. 100%.

 

 

What you might have seen are lost tracks, means drifting targets, but that wouldnt have been datalink targets, but awg9 tracks. Additionally what you could remember are simply missiles shown. That is a bug though for small missiles, but it is a bug in datalink, and nothing we can fix on our side unfortunately. We take the datalink that DCS provides and work from there.

[mattag08]

Nah, these aren't radar tracks though. They are datalink position locations which isn't the same. Back in the day I could see basically everyone on the server, which was approximately 30 people and all of their missiles. I know it's different because I used this to very good effect to maneuver vs. the enemy at ranges in excess of 100 NM.

[Naquaii]

As far as we know the Link 4A (at least in the Tomcat) can only receive a maximum of 8 targets from the controller, this is in addition to the up to 18 displayed tracks the WCS can display in TWS or the 48 radar returns shown in RWS.

[ustio]

sorry to bring up an old topic.

so I just do a quick mission to see if the datalink is functioning.

 

So I put 7 enemy transport plane, and an AWACS plane to provide datalink coverage. once I spawn, I quickly turn off my radar, and switch to Tactical Datalink System and set the AWACS for the host through Jester menu. out of 7 enemy aircraft, the datalink only shows 3 datalink contact on the TID, not 8.

 

am I missing something?

 

thanks

[Sneak_King18]

the datalink is a feed to your aircraft, from another radar. awacs and carrier can supply the feed. but they also have to acquire the target. Stennis is going to have a hard time datalinking a picture to you if the bandits are cold or beaming, behind a mountain range or whatever. same with AWACS. the biggest issue i see with AWACS is it doesnt follow the blue front. hoggit georgia at war and alot of the other servers set the awacs in optimal spots for the beginning of the progressive mission, but as the sides continue to work further away from awacs, you lose alot of feed.

the specific issues like how you designed the mission and all that, im not sure. but the natural barriers in the maps seem to dissuade the datalink from successfully picking stuff up sometimes. its not a satellite image, its just sharing with you the information it is picking up, which sometimes isnt very much. awacs 250 NM from the action, with mountain ranges in between tend to let things fall thru the cracks. venturing far away from the mothership decreases odds of survival if you use the DL to help acquire targets, which i do quite a bit. the stennis looking over open ocean, with a e-3 or hawkeye towards the front usually covers most of flat, open ocean. once you hit the first mountain range though, be wary.

 

also have noticed alot of AI behavior recently doing a good job of radar masking. they hit the deck, beam, cold, beam, cold, drop to 1000 ft agl, beam, cold, hot. as you get within range. sometimes better to turn around and see if they follow. most of the time that i die im out of comfortable Datalink range. further range from the source, you will see what looks like 2 targets, but is actually one because of the lag. top of HAFU is 14 which is pretty accurate, but datalink will almost look like it has a wingman.

Edited December 15, 2019 by Sneak_King18

[ustio]

i forgot to mention that the AWACS is an E3, and I did my test in an open ocean putting the transport plane at 16.000 feet 65NM away flying hot and close together towards me, and the datalink is only showing 3 instead of 7.

 

so again the weren't notching the AWACS radar and they were definitely not masking with the terrain.

 

so is it me or is there something wrong with the datalink ?

[lunaticfringe]

What's their relative proximity to one another?

[ustio]

line abreast probably 5 nautical seperation from one to the other. on the TID its like 1.5 HAFU symbol seperation